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Levaillant's cuckoo
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For Parts 1 & 2 of this trip to Kruger please click on these links...
The Journey North
Birding in the Parfuri
On our last morning at the Eco-training camp, and for much of the rest of the day journeying back south to Shingwedzi - it rained, rained and rained.
The animals were all drenched and often looking "miserable, but life in the bush goes on.
Fortunately for me, the rain was not so hard that I had to always keep my car windows closed.
I got damp, but, hey, it's summer in the north-eastern lowveld, so I didn't get too cold.
What struck me, was how another week into summer, with a bit of rain and more sunshine, the bush had generally got another 100% greener. I hope my pics can show you how much.
At Dzundwini Hill (near Punda Maria) I spent over half an hour enjoying the giraffe, impala and elephant feeding all around me.
These young waterbuck were a little far to get really great pics of, but I really loved the lush vegetation backdrop.
Being early December, there were impala lambs everywhere and not always sheltering away under the bushes.
Another 1/2 hour stop was with this troop of baboons and a small herd of nyala (females and youngsters) sheltering under some of the tall riverine trees along the Mphongolo River road.
They all looked so wet and cold!
On the second day of the journey south, I was based in Shingwedzi Camp, and I only took one, relatively short, mid-day game drive along the river. The weather had cooled down even further so there weren't a lot of large animals out and about, but I got some great birding.
These are just the birds that decided to perch in the bushes quite close to me,
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Woodland kingfisher
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White-fronted bee-eater
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| African hoopoe |
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Day 3, found me traveling south to Letaba Rest Camp, and although it remained overcast, the rain had stopped.
In the morning I saw not much at all, except for this stunning Water monitor lizard at the bird hide.
By early afternoon I had hit Nshawu vlei which is a beautiful open area stretching over 20km north to south draining the water run off from the Lebombo range on the eastern border (of Kruger and South Africa). At this time of the year it has sweet, short, green grass, water and lots of animals!
It was a long day on the road. and I was very thankful to have my favourite hut and view of the Letaba River to relax with a glass of wine. A big bonus was the sun breaking through and lighting up the river!
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There are impala, waterbuck & birds in view!
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As often happens, the weather was clear and sunny on my last morning drive out of Kruger. Of course the temperatures and humidity were exponentially higher.
This old buffalo interrupted his feasting for a brief moment to eyeball me...
It was an amazing trip to Kruger, the first since the pandemic really hit us, and until I can return to working (on safari with clients) in the Kruger I will try to do trips like this more often.
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